The
Port Royal correspondent of the New York Herald,
under date of March 30, gives the following particulars of this vessel,
whose arrival at New York we have already announced:

Another
valuable prize was made off Bull’s Bay on Friday night last by the
gunboat Stettin, Acting Master
Debbins commanding. The Stettin
was lying at anchor off the bay, with a sharp lookout, on the night in
question. At about 12 o’clock, a steamer was observed close upon the Stettin,
steering towards the land, steaming at a rapid rate. The anchor of the Stettin
was immediately slipped, and a shot fired at the stranger, which had no
other effect than to accelerate her progress. Chase was immediately
given, and fire opened upon her by the Stettin,
but without result. The strange timer made good time, and the Stettin was being surely left behind. After an hour’s chase a
dense fog set in, which enabled the pursued steamer to elude the Stettin, and for the time being to effect her escape. The Stettin
continued the chase for a while longer, and then lay to to await
daylight. At early dawn the fog cleared up, and the Stettin
stood to the northward, and son discovered the Anglo-rebel again, hard
ashore, with her cargo going overboard as rapidly as possible, to
lighten her.

The
Stettin immediately bore down
upon her and fired a gun. The English flag, which flew on the stern of
the steamer, was instantly hauled down, and the steamer was taken
possession of and became a prize to the navy. She proved to be the
Clyde-built iron steamer Aries,
constructed specially for blockade running, of about six hundred tons
burthen. Her model indicates great speed, and surpasses in point of
beauty anything that has yet been taken. She is a schooner-rigged
propeller, with masts arranged with hinges, so that they may be lowered
upon the deck. Her engines are splendidly constructed and of immense
strength. Her cargo consists of assorted dry goods, saltpeter, brandy
and cigars. A large quantity was thrown overboard while ashore to
lighten her, and before the Stettin
took possession. Her value is roughly estimated at about $200,000.
Acting Master Debbins and a prize crew go North in her to-morrow to
deliver her to the authorities at Boston. The Captain of the Aries
was quite sick at the time of the capture, and the first mate had charge
of the vessel. The loss of the ship, in which the captain was heavily
interested, so affected him as to occasion delirium, out of which the
physicians have not been able as yet to bring him to his senses.1

The
Herald adds the following:

The
vessel was fitted out in England, and came to St. Thomas, where she lay
until a favorable opportunity presented itself to start. Admiral Wilkes
watched her for some time. On the 16th of March she put to sea in
company with the steamer Pet,
of the same character, under the convoy of the British frigate Phaeton.

The
Aries has a very valuable
cargo, and it is said the rebel captain is interested in it. While at
Port Royal, he “played lunatic,” and deceived the surgeon, but
Acting Master Debbins suspected him, and, upon search, it was found that
the would-be lunatic had no less than sixteen revolvers, loaded and
capped, ready to make an attempt to retake the vessel.2
Previous to this exposure he denied the presence of any firearms in the
vessel or even in his possession.-->

The
New York Times says:

The
Aries, prize steamer, which
arrived here yesterday en route to Boston, is the identical vessel that
was convoyed out of a neutral port by a British man-of-war. She is a
very useful steamer, of medium tonnage, and was built in England by
James Lang. She escaped with a cargo recently from Charleston, which
port she reached through the aid of a rebel pilot sent over to
Sutherland. She is a prize to the Stettin.
The Aries had a ship’s
company of twenty-four men, besides four passengers–Spaniards–who
professed to own the cargo, and a pilot, Simpson Adkins, well known in
New York as formerly on the steamer Marion,
in the New York and Charleston trade. This Adkins and the Spaniards are
now prisoners on board the steamer Bibb.

-----

The United States and England.–A
special Washington dispatch of April 5th in the Philadelphia Inquirer,
says:

The
War Committee waited on the President yesterday to urge the issuing of
letters of marque, and to induce the President to inform England that
the letting loose of the ten iron-clad war vessels now building in her
harbors for the rebels will be considered a declaration of war upon us,
and that, unless steps are taken at once to prevent further operations
in that line, Lord Lyons be furnished his passports and that Charles
Francis Adams be recalled. It is urged upon the President that English
vessels are now under the rebel flag, sweeping our commerce from the
seas, and that in less than ninety days a fleet of English iron-clad
steamers, of most formidable character, will sweep away our blockading
squadrons and open rebel ports. Secretary Seward, however, hopes to
settle the whole matter amicably, and fears that something may be done
to offend England if we do not act with great caution and deliberation.
The President is much incensed that Lord Lyons should have been plotting
treason with the leaders of the opposition to the Government here in the
National Capital, and unless something unforeseen occurs, the next four
days will bring forth some of the most important movements in the whole
history of the rebellion, as some deliberate policy must be adopted at
once.

-----

The Postage Stamp Mania in Paris.–The
mania for collecting postage stamps has assumed such a proportion in
Paris that a little bourse is established in the garden of the
Tulleries, where this scrap of paper stock is bought and sold with the
same avidity as speculators exhibit at the money market. A tremendous
excitement has been created at the postage mart by the announcement that
the newborn national government if Poland has issued postage stamps, and
that some of them had actually reached the metropolis.

-----

What
becomes of pennies? During the month of March 5,300,000 pennies were
coined at the Philadelphia mint; yet they have disappeared, or nearly
so, from circulation in the Northern cities.

MONDAYAPRIL 20,
1863THE
MACON DAILY TELEGRAPH (GA)

Vicksburg.

The
reports and accounts from Vicksburg are unexpected. It is certain the
Confederates have entertained the opinion that the siege of this place
has been practically abandoned by the enemy, and that his actual and
reported movements look like an assault in force. The successful passage
of the Vicksburg batteries by five of Porter’s fleet is certainly
strong evidence that they still entertain the idea of “opening the
navigation of the Mississippi.” These vessels are no doubt designed to
co-operate with that portion of Farragut’s fleet which ran the
gauntlet at Port Hudson, and which must now either reduce that place or
repeat the fearful experiment of slipping by again. It seems a
reasonable supposition that they all mean to concentrate in an attack
upon Port Hudson, co-operating for that purpose with the land forces
under Banks. They have now, when united, a fleet of eight or nine
gunboats–formidable craft–those from Porter’s fleet being
iron-clad. But their position is embarrassing. Cut off from their base
of supplies both north and south, they have no means of procuring food
or fuel.

There
is no chance, we presume, of either foraging or obtaining seasoned wood
to any extent on the banks of the rivers. Whatever they have to do,
therefore, must be done quickly, before supplies are exhausted. If, in
co-operation with Banks, they can reduce Port Hudson, the way will then
be open for more leisurely operations against Vicksburg; but failing to
open either barrier, their case will be desperate in the extreme. A very
few days, it seems to us, must disclose their plans.

The
story of sixty-four transports leaving Memphis, and the suppression of
the Bulletin and Argus,
probably for tattling about army movements, is Northern news, and may be
trumped up to mislead, while Grant pushes forward his columns to effect
a junction with Rosecrans, The only thing which renders it probable is,
as we have said, the running the gauntlet of our batteries by Porter’s
fleet. We cannot imagine that they would have made this movement, except
in anticipation of some subsequent arrangements for getting back without
encountering a similar danger and loss. News from Vicksburg will now be
exceedingly interesting.

-----

Running
the Blockade.

We
clip the following from the Richmond Enquirer
and Richmond Whig, having been
impressed with and expressed the same ideas a good while:

We
know, also, by Mr. Mason’s correspondence with Lord Russell, that the
import duties collected in Charleston last year, though with very low
duties, exceeded the amount collected in any former year.

We
know also that lines of steamships ply regularly between Nassau and our
ports of Wilmington and Charleston; and that they enter those harbors
with assured impunity under the guns of a blockading fleet.

Further,
we know that while these Nassau vessels are scarcely ever
interrupted–and then probably by mistake–every vessel coming from
Europe with army stores, machinery, cannon and ammunition, is chased and
fired upon, and most of them captured.

Ever
since the late attack on Fort Sumter, and while a great Federal fleet
was lying inside the bar, the Anna and Emma, with general cargo from Nassau, ran in at her ease;
but next day a steamer from England, with ammunition and shoes, was
attacked and destroyed.

Has
any one taken the trouble to analyze these remarkable facts, or draw any
inferences from them? What do our readers think of the following
explanation?

It
has lately become known, through several channels, that many large
commercial houses in New York and Boston, which lost by the war their
direct legitimate custom with the Confederate States, have established
branch houses in Nassau, to which they send goods adapted to our market,
making up and labeling their packages as English. With these are laden
the steamships that “run the blockade” to Wilmington and Charleston.
The steamers are known to the commanders of the blockading fleet, or
there is a private code of signals agreed upon, and they pass, without
interruption, inward and outward.

The
pretended “blockade,” then–if this explanation be the true
one–is nothing more or less than a contrivance for monopolizing or
trade, and shutting other nations out of our harbors. It is a fraud,
first upon us; secondly, on all outside mankind–and the existence of a
certain risk, consequent on an occasional capture, ensures the higher
profit to Yankee merchants. Thus, while they waste our substance and
burn our towns on the one hand, they swindle us on the other under the
cunning pretext of smuggling. The Confederate resources are a candle
lighted at both ends; and if we cannot be conquered by fair fighting, it
is hoped we may be subdued by an exhaustive drain of our resources,
debt, starvation. Who shall escape the Yankees? Secession does not make
us rid of them; war is no interruption to their deadly embrace; if we
take the wings of morning we cannot fly beyond the reach of their
unwholesome and fatal “demand and supply.”

-----

The War a Failure: Future Plans
for Success.–Senator Wade, from the Joint Committee of the
two Houses of the Yankee Congress, consisting of three members of the
Senate and four member of the House of Representatives, appointed in
December, 1861, with instructions to inquire into the conduct of the
present war, has presented a report with the testimony taken. The
committee came to the conclusion that during last spring, summer and
winter, the “Union” armies did literally nothing, and wind up their
report with the following work which remains to be done:

“We
now see clearly what we have to do. We must obtain uninterrupted control
of the Mississippi. We must reach these great railroad arteries, the one
bordering on the Atlantic seaboard, the other stretching through the
Virginia and Tennessee valleys to the West and the South. We must as
soon as possible take the few fortified seaports remaining in possession
of the rebels; and then we shall have virtually disarmed the rebellion,
cut it off from all external sources of food and arms, and have
surrounded it by forces which can press upon it from any quarter, at the
same time severing into isolated portions the rebel territories and
destroying their means of intercommunication, by which alone they have
hitherto been enabled to meet us in force wherever we have presented
ourselves, and which alone they have been able to feed and supply their
armies.”

TUESDAYAPRIL 21, 1863THE
SPRINGFIELD REPUBLICAN (MA)

THE WAR IN VIRGINIA.
Affairs at Suffolk.Offensive Movements of the Enemy.

Advices
from Suffolk state that on the 16th inst. the enemy drove back our
skirmishers on the Somerton road, which is Gen. Corcoran’s front, and
opened on Fort Union with two pieces of artillery. Our forts at once
replied to them and drove them back. Our skirmishers on the south Quay
routed and drove the enemy back some miles from our lines. Deserters say
the enemy intend to make an attack this week. Guerrillas prowled about
our flanks on the 16th inst., killing one man. They also cut the
telegraph wires, which were soon repaired. Both railroads between
Suffolk and Norfolk are in running order and amply guarded by a cavalry
patrol. No letters are now allowed to be sent forward by the flag of
truce except to prisoners of war.

The
Rebel Force Near Suffolk–The Prospect.

Suffolk
letters report that our forces hold the Nansemond river for sixteen
miles and have defeated every attempt of the rebels to get in our rear.
The rebels expect to bring against us, including reinforcements from
Gen. Hill, some 60,000 men. The delay of the enemy in making the attack
is as good as a reinforcement to us of 10,000 men. Gen. Longstreet has
expressed the opinion that Suffolk is too well fortified for him to risk
with his present force a direct assault on our works. A Norfolk letter
expresses the pinion that there will be no great battle at Suffolk. We
outnumber the enemy there and have the advantage of strong
entrenchments. Unless Gen. Peck takes the initiative and advances on eh
enemy, I am confident there will be no battle.

Capture
of a Rebel Chief of Staff.

A
Washington dispatch says that official information has been received of
the capture, on Friday, of the chief of staff of the rebel Gen. French
on the Nansemond river, by Lieut. Commander Cushing of the Commodore
Barney.

-----

General News Summary.

A
young lawyer named Joliffe has been hanging round Washington, obtaining
the names of those soldiers who died in hospitals and then writing to
the relatives to send him a sum of money to forward the remains. He has
obtained considerable sums of money, but rarely attempted to fulfill his
part of the contract. On one occasion, however, he sent on a body, but
as it was not the one asked for, the fraud has led to his detection, and
the effectual shutting up of his swindling operation.

Those
who are in possession of all that is known on the subject of our
relations with Great Britain feel that they have reason to be more
hopeful of a pacific solution of pending questions than they were a few
days ago. They think that England is beginning to see the error of her
ways, and that she will, either through the agency of the courts or by
some other means, stop the fleet now being fitted out in her ports for
the rebels from putting to see. All the evidence of the late points in
this direction. So says the Tribune’s
Washington correspondent.

It
is expected that from the taxation of incomes, which will commence on
the 1st of May, a large revenue will be produced, quite sufficient to
make up the deficits in the estimates of ex-Commissioner Boutwell.

There
is but one Irish Mormon at Salt Lake, but he “improves his
opportunities.” He has nine wives and forty-seven children.

FROM PORT ROYAL.
The Failure at Charleston.The prospect of Future Operations.

Advices
from Port Royal in the N. Y. Evening
Post, state that a movement is making for the removal of Admiral
Dupont, and that gen. Seymour, who has been to Washington, urged it upon
the government. The feeling among the land forces is said to be very
strong against Dupont, and the confidence of the sailors much weakened.
Gen. Seymour’s mission was also to urge the reinforcement of Gen.
Hunter. It is understood that the troops belonging to Gen. Foster’s
department will be returned there. A rumor said the order for the attack
on Charleston was countermanded from Washington, the countermand not
reaching the admiral until too late to prevent the assault, and that it
was partly in obedience to this last order that the assault was not
renewed. The report that the monitors are to go to New Orleans was not
credited in well-informed circles. There is good reason to believe that
Gen. Hunter has not relinquished the idea of early offensive movements
against Charleston. The monitors could be made ready in two or three
hours, and as efficient as before the late engagement. It is the opinion
of Captain Worden, though the Post
is not authorized by him to state it, that the monitor fleet is able to
batter down Fort Sumter, and in this opinion nearly all the officers
concurred. It is also believed that the obstructions might be passed,
though at the risk that the monitors might not be able to return. The Ironsides remains off Charleston bar.

Fort
Sumter–Panic in Charleston.

Deserters
from Savannah state that Fort Sumter was breached in several places, and
many rebel gunners out hors ducombat. At one
time Gen. Ripley telegraphed that there was a possibility of our fleet
forcing the obstructions. This created a panic in Charleston, and all
the citizens and many soldiers ran away from the city beyond the range
of the Yankee shells. During the engagement the rebel forces were under
arm, and anxiously watching the points from which they expected the
Yankee troops to emerge. There is said to have been 20,000 rebels on
James island alone, and 22 rebel earth fortifications on James, John and
Morris islands.

The
Injuries to the Iron-Clads.

The
turrets and hulls of the monitors are unscathed. In no instance is the
armor perforated. The sum total of the injuries was the simple riddling
of the smoke-stacks. The fleet, with this exception, are ready for
active service.

Land
Forces Near Charleston.

A
detachment of troops was left on Folly Island to co-operate with the
fleet in Stono Inlet and prevent the construction of new rebel
batteries. A similar force was left in Edisto Inlet for a like purpose.

-----

British Gunboat Fired into by Mistake.

The
bark J. W. Andrews, which
arrived at New York Sunday, reported that April 6th, in the Bahama
channel, she was boarded by the British gunboat Signet, which reported on the 4th inst. being fired into by the
United States gunboat Connecticut,
which took the Signet to be
the Alabama. The captain of
the Signet went aboard the Connecticut
when the affair was amicably adjusted.

WEDNESDAYAPRIL 22, 1863NEW
HAMPSHIRE PATRIOT & STATE GAZETTE

On
the night of the 12th inst., the steamer Stonewall
Jackson, while attempting to run into Charleston harbor, was chased
by half a dozen blockaders, which fired at her, and she received several
shots through her hull. The captain, finding it impossible to escape,
ran the steamer on the beach and burned her. The cargo consisted of
several pieces of field artillery, two hundred barrels of saltpetre,
forty thousand army shoes and a large assortment of merchandise.

-----

Good
at Retreating.—The Washington Republican
represents that the 12th and 13th Pennsylvania Cavalry can beat all
creation in the speed with which they run from the enemy. It adds in
proof of this:

“A
portion of the Twelfth were sent out from Winchester, on the 11th, to
scout on the Cedar Creek road. A small party of rebels made their
appearance, when the ‘Pennsylvania Racers’ suddenly made a left
wheel and came back into town at the highest speed they could get out of
their jaded animals, and alarming the whole command by a ridiculous
report that a large forces of rebel cavalry was advancing upon us.”

-----

Vicksburg.—The
Boston Post remarks that if
recent statements concerning Vicksburg are all true, the strength of the
place and its capabilities for repelling attack have been in no wise
exaggerated. The pleasant fiction with which some of our newspaper
campaigners were deluding their readers a while ago, that the enemy
would soon have to evacuate, if for no other reason than the lack of
food, is rudely dissipated by the assurance that beef, bacon and corn
meal are plenty; and not only plenty but superabundant, “enough having
been stowed away to supply the army for two years.” It is further
stated that the stories about the destruction of the Indianola
are all moonshine, concocted by the enemy to throw dust in the eyes of
Admiral Porter, to prevent gunboats coming down the river to capture
her.

-----

While
the “no party” administration was sending 3000 soldiers to
Connecticut to vote a partisan ticket, Gen. Foster was in sore trouble,
and in danger of capture, not many miles from the camps from whence the
political soldiers were sent.

-----

An
order has been given to Gov. Andrew from the War Department to arm the
colored regiments from Massachusetts with first-class arms. According to
President Lincoln’s idea, this is about the easiest way of supplying
the rebels with “first-class arms.”

-----

Complimentary.—The
Bermuda Mirror of April 1st
(suspicious date) says the British war-ship Cygnet
was fired at by two U.S. ships off the coast of Cuba; and that upon an
explanation being demanded, they stated that they thought she was the Alabama
or Florida. Whereupon the “sassy cuss of a Britisher” says:

“In
all probability if it had been the Alabama
or the Florida, the Federal war-vessels would have kept at a respectful
distance, as they always have done, and managed to let her escape to
save their own lives.”

How
to Increase the Value of a Cow.—Every one who owns a cow
can see at a glance that it would be profitable to increase the value of
her, but every one cannot tell how to do it. We can, and we think we can
make it equally palpable to our readers. If a cow is kept for butter, it
certainly would add to her value if the butter making properties of her
milk should be improved. In summer or winter this can be improved just
as the yield of a cultivated crop can be improved by what is fed to
each, and it is simply a question of will it pay, in manuring the one or
feeding the other. Indian corn will add to the quantity and quality of
the butter to a very sensible degree; and it is simply a question of
easy solution, by experiment, whether it will add to the profit of the
butter-maker to buy corn at one or two cents a pound, and convert a
portion of it in to butter at twenty-five cents a pound, or whatever the
market price of corn and butter may be, and another portion of it into
fat, and another portion of it into manure, for that is the natural
result of the chemical change produced in the laboratory of the cow’s
stomach. The same result will follow any other kind of feeding. Good
pastures will produce an abundance of milk, often as much as the cow can
carry; but it does not follow that even then it will not be profitable
to feed her with some more oleaginous food to increase the quantity of
butter, just as it sometimes proves profitable to feed bees to enable
them to store more honey. It certainly does appear to us that the value
of a cow feeding upon ordinary winter food, may be almost doubled by
making that food suitable for the purpose of increasing the quantity of
milk, if that is the purpose for which the cow is kept. Farmers general
understand that they convert corn into beef, pork and lard, and some of
them know exactly at what price per bushel it will pay to convert it
into these substances; but does any one know at what rate it will pay to
convert corn or any other grain into butter, or any other kind of feed
into the dairy products? Is the whole business a hap-hazard one? We fear
so. Some persons know that they can increase the saleable value of
butter by adding the coloring matter of carrots to it. Does any person
know the value of a bushel of carrots fed to a cow to increase her value
as a butter-producing laboratory? Experimental proof upon this point
would be far more worthy of an agricultural prize than it is to see who
can show the largest roots; for by a few carefully conducted experiments
we should be able to increase the value of a cow almost at pleasure.

-----

The
safe of the Paymaster at the Brooklyn N. Y. Navy Yard was recently
robbed of about $140,000 in “greenbacks.” But Mr. Chase can print
that amount in a very short time.

-----

It
is stated that the number of American vessels captured by rebel
privateers is 68–11 of them by the Sumter, 29 by the Alabama,
and 7 by the Florida.3

THURSDAYAPRIL 23,
1863PORTLAND
DAILY ADVERTISER (ME)

Admiral
Farragut’s Movements.Official
Account of Operations on the Lower Mississippi.

Washington, April 22.–The Navy Department has received the
following official dispatch, dated U.S. Steam Sloop Pensacola,
off New Orleans, April 13:

On
the morning of the 27th ult., at about daybreak, Admiral Farragut, in
the Hartford, engaged the
batteries at Warrenton, three miles below Vicksburg, and passed below
it. On the morning of the 29th ult., before daylight, the Albatross,
having taken in a full supply of provisions from a barge which had been
floated down the morning previous by Admiral Porter also passed
Warrenton battery, and anchored near the flagship. It was blowing quite
heavy from the North.

The
morning of the 29th, about 1 o’clock, the wharf boat Vicksburg
having broken adrift from her moorings at the city, floated down and ran
ashore opposite to where the Hartford
and Albatross were anchored.
During the day an officer was sent on board the Vicksburg,
who found that all the machinery had been removed. She had nothing on
board save four muskets and equipments, which probably belonged to the
guard. While the Admiral was hesitating as to the propriety of retaining
her as a wharf boat or rather a depot, the rebels came down on the night
of the 30th and burnt her.

The
Switzerland, Hartford
and Albatross being all filled up with coal and provisions, floated down
by Gen. Grant and Admiral Porter in barges, and the damage to the Switzerland
being fully repaired, the vessels passed Warrenton on the forenoon of
the 31st, and at daylight the little squadron got under weigh and
proceeded down river to Mr. Turner’s plantation, where they, on their
passage up the river, had seen the wreck of the Indianola,
but no traces of the wreck were found. They learned that it slid off
into deep water during the late gale.4

They
anchored at this place and remained until about 6:30 p.m.,
when they got under weigh and proceeded down and engaged the battery at
Grand Gulf. This battery consisted of some two or three navy guns sent
down from Vicksburg. One of these guns was mounted on a steamer which
had been concealed up the Big Black river. The enemy had also a light
field battery. They struck the Switzerland
twice but did no damage. The Albatross
was not struck. The Hartford
was struck only once, but this shot struck an iron hammock stanchion ad
threw a fragment of it forward near half the length of the ship, killed
a man named Jones, a landsman. This was the only casualty. They passed
this battery in about fifteen minutes and anchored below Grand Gulf for
the night.

At
daylight on the 1st inst., they got under weigh, and proceeded to the
mouth of the Red river, where they anchored about sundown, destroying in
our passage down a large number of flat boats.

They
remained blockading the Red river at its mouth until the forenoon of the
6th inst., when they got under weigh at about 4:30 a.m.,
and proceeded down to Bayou Sara, where they stopped, seized upon and
threw into the river about 10,000 sacks of corn, and then proceeded on
their way to Port Hudson, where they anchored about five miles above the
batteries, at 3 p.m. on the 6th inst.

On
the evening of the 7th, at 8½ o’clock, the writer of this
communication, the Secretary of the Rear Admiral, left the Hartford
and boarded the Richmond off
Baton Rouge about 2 a.m.,
8th inst. The health of the squadron above is good.

Passage of the Batteries.

Cincinnati, April 22.–A special dispatch from Memphis to the Gazette
gives the following particulars of the passage of the Vicksburg batteries:

Seven
gunboats and one ram, the one taken from the rebels, and three transports,
started on Thursday last to run the blockade. All went well till about
two-thirds the way down, when the hills back of Vicksburg were lighted with
large fires. The transport Forrest Queen at once returned. The Henry Clay was compelled to stop. Several shells struck her below
the water line, and others passed through her. All hands made for the flat
boat as the vessel was sinking. It is believed they were lost. The pilot
floated down river nine miles on a plank, and was picked up opposite
Warrenton. The Forrest Queen was
considerably damaged, and had her steam drum show away.

At
last accounts heavy firing was heard in the vicinity of Warrenton, supposed
to be the gunboats shelling the batteries at that point.

-----

Buy
My Images!—Galignani’s Messenger
relates the following as an actual occurrence:

“Leon
Gozlan said, one evening, in the green room of the Theatre Français, that,
perplexed at seeing the Italian image sellers eternally hawking their tray
of statuettes on their heads through the streets, without a human creature
ever appearing to bargain for any, he asked one of those vendors if he had
exercised that profession long. ‘Thirty years,’ replied the man. ‘And
did you ever,’ continued the author of the Medecin
de Perq, ‘happen to sell one of your figures?’ ‘Never, sir.’
Gozlan reflected for some time on the strangeness of the answer, and then
said, ‘My good man, do me the favor to tell me why you have been thus
walking about, for the last thirty years with the load upon your head? Is it
in obedience to a vow you have made?’ ‘No, sir, certainly not; it is to
get my living–that is the only reason.’ ‘But you say you never sell
anything.’ ‘I never sell anything, it is true,’ returned the man,
‘but there are so many clumsy people in the world that a day never passes
without some one running against me and upsetting my board. My figures are
thus broken, and a crowd collects and makes the person pay for them all!’
”

FRIDAYAPRIL 24,
1863THE
CALEDONIAN (VT)

For
the latest news we copy a brief summary from the Boston Journal
of April 22: Yesterday was quite a bright day so far as the reception of
god news was concerned–a precursor, we hope, of more and even better
intelligence of the same kind. There was the news by the foreign steamer
that the English government had shown some sense of returning justice by
the seizure of one rebel pirate, and its attempt, though unfortunately
unsuccessful, to seize another; the report of a rebel defeat at Corinth;
the gratifying news of the relief of our gallant troops at Washington,
N. C., through the abandonment of the siege by the rebels; the equally
gratifying news of the running of the blockade at Vicksburg by six
gunboats and several transports, thus reinforcing Farragut, and enabling
him to do great damage to the rebel supplies, and also to attack either
Port Hudson or Vicksburg on their weak side; the important and, so far
as heard from, successful movements in Gen. Banks’ department; the
seemingly authentic and gratifying news of a terrible defeat of the
French invaders in Mexico; and last, but not least, the discomfiture of
the gold speculators. Taking it altogether, it seemed to raise the
feelings of the public several degrees.

A
report from Charleston states that the Monitors were then lying off the
bar, none of them having gone to Port Royal. It is also stated that
another Monitor had reached Port Royal, and iron plates for
strengthening the ships had arrived at that place, and in the course of
ten days they would be stronger than ever.

The
rebels attacked Fayetteville, Ark., 3000 strong, but were handsomely
repulsed. There have been skirmishes in Tennessee, but nothing of
importance.

The
last news from Europe says the insurrection in Poland is spreading.

-----

Great
Britain and Our Commerce.

“Burleigh”
writes from New York to the Boston Journal
as follows:

“If
the sale of ships goes on for a few weeks as it has for the five weeks
past, we shall have no commerce at our wharves flying the American flag.
No ship master can get a cargo, and all importations are made under a
neutral flag. The Alabama is
sweeping our commerce from the ocean. The British are buying our ships,
and no American has a chance now. I conversed with an intelligent
Englishman in regard to the new iron-clads building in England. He says
that the new vessels are formidable; that no one is allowed to see these
ships; that they are enclosed in ship-houses. One rumor says that they
will open southern ports at once, for their destination is not a matter
of debate.”

-----

The
Rebel View of Connecticut Election.—The Richmond Dispatch
of the 11th inst. has an article upon the recent election in
Connecticut, saying:

“The
hopes which rested on the triumph of Seymour have fallen to the ground.
The importance of this defeat of the democracy cannot well be
exaggerated; for if the result had been otherwise, the Northwest would
have risen, the peace party would have been organized on a permanent
basis, the next meeting of Congress would have been followed by a
summary abrogation of the imperial powers bestowed upon Lincoln by the
abolition Congress just ended, and a cessation of hostilities might have
been confidently looked for, at or before the close of the present year.
Lincoln has succeeded. Connecticut is lost, and with it goes the hope of
an early peace, based upon party action at the North, which so many
entertained.”

Are
the Rebels Starving?

We
hope so, most assuredly. The accounts that we receive from our own
soldiers who have been prisoners, intercepted letters, and those highly
reliable persons, rebel deserters, all go to show that the confederacy
is on the borders of starvation. Even Jeff Davis himself cannot wholly
ignore the fact, but acknowledges it in his last speech, recommending
the people to raise corn instead of cotton; and while admitting that the
rebel army is now on half rations, says: “Measures have been adopted
which will, it is believed, soon enable us to restore the full
rations.”

One
of the New York papers publishes a letter found in a Confederate mail
bag recently captured, in which the writer, an artilleryman engaged on
the defences at Richmond, speaks as follows of the hard fare of the
army:

“We
were sent to guard a bridge across the North Anna river, close to
Fredericksburg, and had a hard time of it. The federals gave our army
their hands full, and the losses were heavy on both sides. Our men must
die for something to eat. They cannot stand these hard marches and half
feed. We get a quarter of a pound of pork and one loaf of bread, and
that is all we get in one day and nothing else, and we have not been
paid off in three months. We look
for an early peace, and that is all the cry at this time. For my
part I have lost all hope of this unholy war coming to an end during old
Abe’s term. They say we will be sent to Western Virginia; but I have
seen enough of the mountains and would be glad if they would let us be
where we are.”

-----

A
Hard General to Conquer.—The Savannah News
of a late date says:

“The
Yankees have arrayed against us powerful armies, under the lead of Gens.
Hooker, Hunter, Banks, Foster, Siegel, Rosecrans and The Beast. But we
are threatened by a more formidable general–general starvation. Our
farmers, every man, woman and child that can wield a hoe, can meet the
latter in the field. If they will drive him from our midst, our brave
soldiers will vanquish the others.”

If
the rebel armies are already upon half rations, as Jeff Davis admits
they are, what want and woe are in store for their families and the
deluded population of the south generally.

-----

“Why
are nails designated by the terms sixpenny, eightpenny, &c?” In
Sheffield, England, where immense quantities of nails are manufactured,
they used to be sold in small quantities by the hundred; and the terms
fourpenny, sixpenny, &c., referred to such nails as were sold at
fourpence, sixpence, &c., per hundred nails. The length of the nail
of that day was exactly the same with nails that are now known by those
designations.

-----

A
man being asked, as he lay sunning himself on the grass, what was the
height of his ambition, replied: “To marry a rich widow with a bad
cough.”

SATURDAYAPRIL 25, 1863THE
ÆGIS AND TRANSCRIPT (MA)

The
Fashions in Richmond.—The wife of a rebel officer writes in
a letter recently intercepted, concerning dress and parties in the rebel
capital:

“A
calico dress costs thirty-six dollars, that is three dollars a yard.
White cottons three dollars per yard, lawns and ginghams the same. The
most ordinary merino or silk, one hundred dollars. A simple bonnet fifty
dollars. A pair of ordinary three dollar gaiters, twenty dollars.
Notwithstanding these prices, parties were very numerous till Lent
began. There was a wedding next door to us which five hundred people
attended, and where all liquors were abundant, and champagne and other
wine flowed like water. . . The oranges at the wedding cost one dollar
and fifty cents apiece, and everything was as plentiful as of old. The
whole of the wedding paraphernalia and supper must have cost twenty
thousand dollars or more.”

-----

The
Last of the “Gumbacks.”—The counting of the soiled
postage stamps, which were two or three months ago deposited at the New
York post office for redemption, has been completed, and most of them
redeemed. The aggregate amount was over $260,000. Only about five per
cent were rejected as worthless. The sorting and counting occupied three
months’ time. Some idea of the extent of the labor may be formed, says
the Evening Post, from the
fact that the counting would have occupied one man for the space of two
years and a half; and it is believed that that man in consequence of the
perplexing nature of the work, would, at or before the end of the time,
have become insane.

-----

The
newest thing under the sun and the simplest, is a contrivance for
loosening the risibles of persons sitting for a picture for a
photograph. The great trouble heretofore has been that sitting for a
picture makes the countenance appear too cross and severe. The remedy
hit upon is to wheel a large mirror to the side of the camera, so that
the sitter can “see himself as others see him.” The effect is said
to be instantaneous on every sitter. When the scowl has become lost in a
look of satisfactory happiness, the operator suddenly “fixes” the
expression on the plate. The experiment will be tried by artists
hereabouts, when every body can appear “so sweet,” and all at the
old prices.

-----

There
is one umbrella in the army of the Potomac, the gift of a little girl to
her brother who is a private, to protect him from exposure on the long
marches. It is the subject of much mirth among the soldiers, who have
about forgotten the use of such things.

-----

The
Washington correspondent of the N. Y. Times
says the public feeling is that we are actually contending with Great
Britain as well as the rebels, and that British guns of the latest
improvement and greatest power, sent to South Carolina to break up the
Republic, saved Charleston on the 7th from her merited destruction.

A
Rebel Voice for Peace.—A correspondent of the Chattanooga Rebel, written under date of “Camp near Vicksburg, Mss., March
16,” says three men were shot at that place on the 6th for mutiny and
desertion, and adds:

“Such
a scene ought deeply to impress the minds of the soldiers that witness
it, but this terrible war has so accustomed our soldiers to scenes of
blood and death, that they are little affected with anything. This is a
cruel, horrid war, and it is surprising that some of our Congressmen and
a part of our press do not appear to desire a speedy end to it. If these
fine gentlemen could leave their comfortable houses and mingle for a
time among their dirty, ragged, weather-beaten countrymen who are baring
their bosoms to the storm, they might be induced to change their minds.
If they could see, as I have seen, our sturdy Tennessee farmers and
Georgia planters, standing on picket for days and nights in [the] mud
and water of the swamps here, with the rain all pouring down upon them,
as only a Mississippi rain can pour, everything wet, muddy and nothing
to eat but coarse brown bread and molasses; if they could see these men,
who have all their lives been accustomed to every comfort and luxury
that independent circumstances could afford, trudging ten or twelve
miles through the mud, and begging the privilege of paying a dollar a
pound for a little bacon to eat or a little soap with which to wash
their clothes; if they could see, as I have seen, dear friends waste
away and die in camps or linger and perish in hospitals; if they could
witness a few soldier burials–the detailed squad grumbling because
they have to dig the grave–the rude, unpainted coffin, brought in by
another detailed squad–the dead soldier rolled in his blanket, and the
coffin lid nailed down upon him with a loud, grating noise–then the
final, unceremonious putting of the poor fellow away in an unhallowed
ground; a board marked with his name and the name of the regiment tells
where he lies, but no one will ever visit it, and after a few months
have elapsed no one can tell where his last resting place is. If these
home patriots could witness some of these sad pictures, and could have
an opportunity of observing how the young men of the Confederacy, who
were taught good manners and good morals by their fond parents at home,
are fast becoming demoralized, and learning all the vices and evil
habits incident to the wild, unrestrained soldier life, thus blighting
all their future promises–they would learn that the friendship, and
even the alliance of the people of the Northwest is to be desired. I do
not believe that we ought to go wild about the revolution now going on
in the Northwest, but it certainly is our policy to treat it with
respect and to court its influence.”

-----

A
rebel newspaper announces with no little exultation that specimens of
shoe pegs have been produced at the work shop of the South Carolina
railroad. It is an encouraging evidence of the progress of the useful
arts under stress of the blockade. If the war continues two years
longer, and the blockade puts the inventive and constructive faculty of
the rebels to its trumps, it may yet rise to the dignity of clothes-pin
and tenpenny nails.

1 interested here means “invested in financially.”

2
Although assuming a modern form by
the end of the war, ammunition for both rifles and pistols in the early
1860s generally came in a paper cartridge that contained black powder
(the propellant) and bullet (the projectile). To ignite the powder and
propel the bullet, a cap containing fulminate of mercury (the same
chemical used in modern cap guns) had to be placed over a cone, through
which the spark created when the hammer of the weapon struck the cap was
projected. Having a loaded gun did not make the weapon any more
dangerous than having it unloaded, as there was nothing to ignite the
powder; but having these sixteen pistols loaded and capped meant they
were ready to be fired instantly.

3
The other 21 having been taken by
assorted other rebel ships to make the total of 68.

4
under weigh is the original (and correct) manner of writing
“underway;” it refers to the ship’s anchor having been
“weighed” or raised, so that the ship can then proceed.